Browsing: Camp Bastion

By Hope Hodge Seck Camp Leatherneck–Greetings from Camp Leatherneck, a once-bustling base in Afghanistan’s Helmand province that is rapidly becoming a ghost town. Leatherneck is home to most of the 4,500 Marines remaining in Afghanistan, down from some 20,000 at the peak of fighting here. While the base still has a sprawling footprint, whole sections are emptying as units and elements complete their mission and go home. Meanwhile, Leatherneck is still home to an array of coalition troops, including Jordanian, Georgian, Estonian, and Danish forces, as well as some 2,500 British troops stationed at Camp Bastion, which borders Leatherneck. On…

Appearing before members of Britain’s Parliament on Tuesday, a top British general disputed assertions that his forces are to blame for the security failures that led to last year’s deadly Taliban attack on a coalition airfield in southwestern Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. David Capewell, who oversees the planning for British military operations abroad, told lawmakers that even though the Brits were in charge of security for Camp Bastion at the time of the attack, they are not responsible for the deaths of two Marines gunned down after 15 insurgents breached the base perimeter in September 2012. His testimony before Parliament’s Defence…

The deadly attack last year on Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, has received widespread coverage, especially by Marine Corps Times. But it isn’t every day that a Marine operation makes the pages of a gentlemen’s magazine. The newest GQ magazine profiles the Sept. 14, 2012, battle, sharing a number of details that square with previously published reports. It was written by Matthieu Aikins, whom I crossed paths with last October while embedded with Marines in Helmand province. Aikins’ story is written colorfully, and includes one troubling new allegation that had not previously been reported: But a troubling question still lingers: How could…

At least four Marines who served with the Harrier squadron attacked last year at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, have received the Purple Heart, Marine officials said in a news release published Thursday. Lance Cpl. Cole Collums, Sgt. Jonathan Cudo and former Cpl. Matthew Eason received the award Aug. 1 for wounds sustained in the Sept. 14, 2012, attack, Marine officials said. Maj. Eason, Collums and Cudo are the second, third and fourth Marines from VMA-211 who acted at Camp Bastion to receive Purple Hearts. They were all with Marine Attack Squadron 211, out of Marine Corps Station Yuma, Ariz., when the…

Check out this photograph above. It shows the modest chow hall at Combat Outpost Taghaz, a small combat outpost in Afghanistan where I lived with Marines for about a week last fall while gathering information for a couple of stories. The adviser team shared the base with a platoon from 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, which provided overwatch security in the region. I bring this up after reading today that some service members at Camp Leatherneck, the Marine Corps’ largest base in Afghanistan, are angry that commanders have apparently decided to dump the midnight ration service and 24-hour sandwich bar in…

Two Marines died and six AV-8B Harrier planes were destroyed last fall after 15 insurgents attacked Camp Bastion. It marked one of the most brazen and high-profile security incidents on a major forward operating base in 11 years of war in Afghanistan. Immediately afterward, the majority of the news coverage focused on the heroism displayed that Sept. 14 night in squashing the attack. That certainly deserved attention. As I outlined from Camp Bastion last fall, hundreds of Marines and other coalition forces scrambled to root out well-trained enemy that, after breaching the wire, not only destroyed aircraft, but also opened…

[HTML1] Britain’s Prince Harry, an Apache helicopter pilot serving out of Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, recently spoke to CNN about his service during a 19-week deployment. During the interview, he made it clear he has no qualms about killing bad guys in support of coalition forces, which include U.S. Marines in southern Afghanistan. “Our job out here is to make sure the guys are safe on the ground. Now, if that means shooting someone who is shooting at them, then we will do it,” he told CNN. He also spoke about the changing mission since he first flew down range in…

COMBAT OUTPOST PASERLAY, Afghanistan – It’s a relatively quiet day here on this outpost in Trek Nawa, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a serious conversation to which we can all relate. Deployed U.S. service members in Afghanistan put up with a lot. Not only is there the threat of improvised explosive devices, small-arms ambushes and indirect fire attacks, there’s the lousy food, hostile weather and lack of plumbing. That, of course, leads to a subject we’ve probably written about too frequently on this blog: poop humor. Yes, you may remember previous blog entries about farting in Afghanistan and…

COMBAT OUTPOST PASERLAY, Afghanistan – It’s a relatively quiet day here on this outpost in Trek Nawa, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a serious conversation to which we can all relate. Deployed U.S. service members in Afghanistan put up with a lot. Not only is there the threat of improvised explosive devices, small-arms ambushes and indirect fire attacks, there’s the lousy food, hostile weather and lack of plumbing. That, of course, leads to a subject we’ve probably written about too frequently on this blog: poop humor. Yes, you may remember previous blog entries about farting in Afghanistan and…

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – From the moment I got here, it’s clear it was on people’s minds daily. The Sept. 14 attack on neighboring Camp Bastion rattled many Marines and other coalition forces on this base. While technically a separate base, the two camps share a bus route and relatively easy access. European troops frequently visit the American PX store on Leatherneck, and Americans hop the bus to visit the pizza shop, coffee shop and other amenities on Bastion. Like many other military journalists, I wrote about the attack on Bastion from my desk in D.C., relying equally on interviews,…